Egypt in the Wake of Pharaoh Morsi’s Decree

Dear Readers: A quick Egypt-based update for my fans of the ancient land. I bet the true believers in the “Arab Spring” were shocked to discover that the new Muslim Brotherhood President transformed himself into the new pharaoh!

The general assembly of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate on Sunday voiced its rejection of President Mohamed Morsi’s constitutional declaration, threatening to stage a general strike in retaliation against Morsi’s divisive Thursday declaration.

“The general assembly announces its total rejection of the latest decisions issued by the president,” Gamal Fahmi, member of the syndicate’s executive board, shouted to hundreds of journalists at the syndicate’s downtown headquarters.

The president’s decisions “represent naked aggression against general freedoms, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary,” he added, as fistfights erupted around him between supporters and opponents of the syndicate’s head Mamdouh El-Wali.

Egypt’s stock index fell by nearly 10 percent Sunday in the first trading since President Mohammed Morsi issued decrees to assume sweeping new powers, while a 15-year-old boy was killed in an attack on the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters and police in central Cairo fired tear gas at protesters.

Morsi’s edicts, which were announced on Thursday, place him above oversight of any kind, including that of the courts. The move has thrown Egypt’s already troubled transition to democracy into further turmoil, sparking angry protests across the country to demand the decrees be immediately rescinded.

The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi’s edicts, has pushed back. Judges and prosecutors stayed away from several courts in Cairo and across much of the country.

In essence, what has happened is that Morsi feels entitled to act out, now that he has the Obama Administration’s blessing following the pseudo-cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. It looks like the Muslim Brotherhood is going to get a crack at rewriting the Egyptian Constitution:

Among Egypt’s secular opposition groups, there was mounting alarm over Morsi’s declaration that no court could dissolve the country’s Constituent Assembly, which is drawing up a new Egyptian constitution.

The rewriting of the new constitution has been a controversial issue, with most non-Islamist members quitting the Constituent Assembly – including representatives of the Coptic Christian Church and the April 6 Youth Movement, which played an influential role in the 2011 ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

EGYPT FOR THE EGYPTIANS!

This is one of my favorite lines from George Bernard Shaw’s “Caesar and Cleopatra. I have always maintained that Egypt will be best served by the citizens recalling their ancient roots and remembering that they are Egyptians first and foremost.

On a slightly lighter, but related note, here is a video tour of the ancient Egyptian hell. You only have to turn on your TV to see its modern one.